I look up to the sky awaiting the signal with a shovel in my hand. Months ago, I sat in this same hiding place waiting for night to fall upon the valley for my chance to rescue Uzuri, and here I am again, this time with friends and magic by my side. I checked my pockets to make sure Cran’s gift for me this morning was still there. He told me to throw it into the hole before I entered Uzuri’s room, and to make sure to wait for the smoke to dissipate before going for her. I’m not entirely sure what this small black fruit does, but Cran was insistent that I take it with me.

I hear a loud bang in the sky and see three scarlet lines of smoke announce that Cran in Dargot’s body was on his way to the front gate. I take a few deep breaths as I review the plan, we spent the morning rehearsing in my mother’s cabin. I hear screaming and know that Lilith, Mary, and Ashe have just left my mother’s cabin and are now in root to alert the village of Dargot’s approach. Another boom echoes through the valley, and white smoke tells me that Dargot is now at the entrance of the village. I stay in place waiting for my signal and I hear one last concussive blast followed by black smoke, and now I know that Gareth is leading the guard in his faux attack on the puppet Dargot.

Seeing that signal I prepare to leave my hiding place, and I hear a squealing firework and I place my arms over my eyes and my hands over my ears to protect them from what is to come. The sky flashes with a light brighter than the sun, and an explosion louder than all previous fireworks echoes throughout the valley. The explosion rattles me, and I curse at Cran for maybe going a bit too far with my initial signal. However, that flash bang should have blinded and disoriented those in the village, and maybe the explosion and side effects of the flash bang will frighten all those in the village that aren’t currently fighting the boar puppet to run to their homes to hunker down. In addition, I also hope that the flash will have disoriented the guard and give me a few seconds to check the alleys from the air and not be noticed.

I spring into the air and try to get a visual on if any guards are currently in the alleys. I quickly note that those that are in the alleys are making their way to the front gate taking the bait of our ruse. Cran struggles against the spears, but the guard and Gareth are not struggling against a living creature. Cran can keep the boar fighting as long as he desires and use his branches to keep the decaying hunk of flesh in one piece. They will have to literally tear that boar to pieces to stop it, and even then Cran could probably keep their attention by transforming into his wooden boar form to keep them distracted.

Gareth who had clearly defended his eyes and ears, shouts encouragement to the guard as he stabs at the Dargot puppet. Lilith, Mary, and Ashe were hobbling to Gehenna’s home, but I do not see Gehenna or his captain of the guard in the fleeing crowds or amongst the men fighting Cran. I land from my leap close to my hiding place and figure that Esther must have found a way to distract Gehenna, or he is still defending Uzuri’s door. Though, if Gehenna is defending Uzuri’s door, fighting one man is way better than the possibility Cran’s soldier revealed last night.

I hear another whistle and I again shield my eyes and ears as Cran’s flash bang shakes the sky. The secondary signal having sounded, I throw myself into the alleys. I don’t remove the board that I usually use as my entrance, instead I use my body as a ram that breaks through the boards, creating a larger exit for Uzuri and me to use on our way out.

Now that I’m in the village, the terrified screams of woman and children fill my ears. I hate these sounds, but it is better these wails than the sounds of death and injury. The alleys are abandoned for the most part, though I do have to stop a few times as I hear guards running to help with the demon at the front gate.

As I cautiously proceed, I find myself behind the guard house and I hear one guard say, “The beast is destroying our weapons, and soon the guards at the gate will be defenseless. I don’t care what Gehenna says, I’m going to help them. Defending the alleys is not a priority right now!”

Another guard responds to the first and says, “I’m with you, Dargot is a far greater risk right now than some boy even if he’s a demon. I’ll help you carry weapons to those on the front lines. Right now, Gareth is more our chief than Gehenna. He charged that demon and rallied us right when the beast appeared, and Gehenna is nowhere to be found.”

Hearing those words, I feel confident in our stratagem, throw some of my caution to the wind and speed up my journey through the alleys. With the guards distracted by Dargot, the alleys are empty, and the plan appears to be working remarkably well. The ease of my entrance and journey feels wrong, but I’m not going to give up on this opportunity.

I arrive at the back wall of Gehenna’s house, and quickly light the fuse of the small bomb Cran had given me. I dig quietly to reveal a small crack in the boulders that form the weak wall supposedly preventing access to my hole that I had dug months ago. Before the fuse meets the bomb, I throw it into the hole, and I hear a whizzing sound as smoke leaks from the cracks in the boulders.

I adjust my eyes to essence to listen to the smoke and hear it whisper, “a mild sedative intermingles with the smoke.”

Cran had given me a sleep bomb to knock out the guard in the hole, which explains his instructions. Though, I don’t hear anyone choking or sputtering in the hole. The hole is silent beneath me. I wait for the smoke to clear and just in case I raise my shirt to my face as a minor attempt to filter a little bit of the gas in the hole. I dig a small ditch to try each boulder in the wall to find the one Gareth had loosened and push on each rock until one falls backward.

I squeezed my way into the hole I had made so long ago. In the hole there isn’t a guard, in fact it’s quite empty with the exception of the boulders that formed a wall that swayed me from attempting to dig a new hole in the past. With my celandilic strength I move another boulder to make it easier for Uzuri to exit the hole. The hole is far more crammed now that there are boulders filling a portion of it, but it should still work for our escape. The floorboards above me quickly but gently are placed aside and I climb up into Uzuri’s room.

Though it is dark the light creeping through the boards illuminates the room just enough for me to see a few details that seeing it in essence didn’t reveal. The roof of her room has paintings of the starry night sky plastered all over it, and the walls have various paintings that abstractly portray the woods. I see a figure in many of her paintings and I realize that she had attempted to paint my stories of my misadventures in the woods. One depicted what I assume is my father and mother defending me from Dargot. I turn around and, on her easel, is a painting of our first escape attempt, from a first-person view. I see me, taking her hand in mine in the alleys under starlight.

“Skath, your back,” says Uzuri and she stands before me a goddess in my eyes. She wears the dress of the people of Unadeam, her abdomen visible through a sun shaped hole. The whiteness of the dress and the light seeping through the walls illuminate her almost as a source of light in the dark room. I take a small step backward in awe.

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She hides her face from me, her piercing green eyes still visible despite her long brunette hair covering her face, “I knew that you’d be disgusted by me.”

I take a few steps forward and brush her hair behind her large, pointed ear that she was trying to hide beneath her long hair. I look deep into her eyes almost to drink in her appearance. Her face that I had imagined for so long, was now before me. I take her hands into mine and feel her claws slightly tug at my skin.

“I’ve waited for this day for so long, and I do not regret what I see. You are beautiful, and not even my dreams have done you justice,” I say wiping a tear from her eye, and she leans forward. Euphoria consumes me, and I forget that we are currently on a time sensitive rescue mission as her lips touch mine. I return her kiss, and we stand intertwined, our bodies close enough to feel each other’s hearts beat.

We separate and gasp for breath as we stare into each other’s eyes, and she says, “before we go, let me do just one last thing.”

I watch her walk up to her easel and untie the fabric engagement band from it, leaving the wooden doll Cran had made behind. She ties the band around my arm, ignoring the leather strap on my arm and looks me again in the eye. We don’t need to exchange words, as we both know that I have already accepted her proposal. I kissed her again and know that we will have time to talk more later.

I guide her once again into the hole I had made so long ago and help her to freedom once more. When we emerge into the light of day the rays sting my eyes, and I see Uzuri almost shrink back into the hole behind me. I remember that teratolion wear bands of fabric around their eyes, and though I don’t wish to take off her engagement band, I do so for Uzuri. I take off the band of what I can now tell is painted fabric and tie it around Uzuri’s head to shield her eyes from the sun.

“That better?” I asked, taking her hand in mine.

She nods and takes a few tentative steps, “I can’t see that well through the painted areas of the band, but somehow, I can still see with my ears. It’s weird to explain, but even in the thickest darkness I can still somehow see.”

I tighten my grip around her hand and guide her through the alleys, which again are surprisingly empty. This whole escape attempt doesn’t seem real. I kissed the girl of my dreams, no guards are in my way, nor matriarchs, and all my friends must have done their roles perfectly. The time and noise that Uzuri and I had spent and made in her room should have alerted Gehenna to us, but it appears that Esther had done what she needed to do. Esther had found a way to distract Gehenna. With the efforts all my friends have made, we may actually successfully pull off this rescue with no bloodshed and with surprising ease.

This time as we ran through the alleys, I made sure to count every turn so we wouldn’t have a repeat of what happened last time. Though most of the village guards are currently distracted by Dargot, I don’t think Uzuri’s escape would go unnoticed if we ran in the middle of their ‘desperate’ struggle against the demon boar. My hopes running high, I see salvation. Uzuri and I run through the opening in the village wall and into the forest. My legs don’t quit running, until I sense Uzuri trip behind me.

Time slows, and I prepare to catch her. She lands in my arms, and we are free. I embrace her in my arms and lift her from the ground. I continue forward a few steps, and then remember, that I have my own signal to send. I carry Uzuri over to a wooden stump and tenderly sit her upon it and then take another bomb from my pockets. I light it and toss it with all my might into the air, and a scarlet flaming flower erupts into the sky.

“What was that?” asks Uzuri and I remove the cloth band from her eyes and tie it back on my arm.

“I should have taken off your blind fold now that we are no longer in direct sunlight,” I say looking for Cran’s signal, “That was a firework, they make loud noises and create flaming sky flowers.”

“I wish I could have seen it,” says Uzuri with a pout, “all I could hear was a loud noise. It was kind of frightening, but I knew you were the cause.”

I keep watching the sky and another firework explodes in the distance, and another scarlet sky flower prances upon the air. The boar Dargot has been put down, this time for good. Right now, Gareth and the village should be celebrating, and Gehenna should be swept up in all of the commotion. This should mean Uzuri, and I are more than capable of taking a slower pace to the western tunnels of the teratolion king.

“Alright, Gareth has played his part, and now we shouldn’t have a single worry moving forward,” I say taking a few cautious steps forward, my eyes still on the sky. My gut tells me that something is terribly wrong, as this shouldn’t have been this easy. Gehenna wouldn’t have taken this whole situation sitting down.

“That was beautiful,” says Uzuri still looking up into the sky at the trails of smoke that were left behind by the fireworks, “I know what I’ll be painting tonight. Well, I have plenty to paint, as I didn’t quite paint trees correctly in the past either. I thought leaves were each different from each other, and not so uniform.”

Have I really done it? Have I finally shown Uzuri a world without walls? I can’t believe it, that so much has happened just within this last moment. I stand by the woman I love, and my feelings were reciprocated. I touch the band on my shoulder, almost not believing that I’m not somehow dreaming. I look upon Uzuri once more and I brush the hair from her face again, my hand gently caressing her cheek.

“Why have we stopped,” whispers Uzuri as she leans into my touch.

I shake my head and just look her in the eyes, “I’m making sure I’m not dreaming. All I’ve ever wanted is right here before me, and I’m afraid that I’ll wake up.”

I see her eyes tear up, and her cheeks fill with color. I’ve spent years of my life trying to save her. This last year I’ve nearly died gaining the strength, knowledge, and allies to save her. I’ve given my life to another and my death as well, and now I stand with her at my side. Together without a wall between us, our hearts’ desire after so much time fulfilled. I almost feel myself compelled to lean in for another kiss. I want to feel her against me again, as it helps me know that I’m not somehow imagining things, but that what I’m feeling, seeing, and experiencing is real.

Before our lips meet, I hear screaming from the sky. I look up to see Cran and Gareth flying through the air. Gareth clings to Cran with all his might as his body flops to and fro as Cran darts toward me. Cran approaches the ground and stops, but Gareth wasn’t as lucky. The momentum he was experiencing continued as he flew forward and rolled into the dirt.

“Gehenna was ready for us,” says Gareth frantically trying to get up off the ground.

I feel weird as I feel almost relieved that Gehenna did something, as it somewhat confirms my anxieties. I race over to Gareth and pick him up asking, “What happened?”

“Everything was going according to plan, and then Gehenna marched into town with your mother tied up. It was horrible, she only wore a bloodied tunic, and I can only guess what my father did to her,” says Gareth his whole expression contorted into one of wrath, “He had left a portion of the guard in the village, and the rest were with him to capture your mother.”

I tried to grasp what was going on, and in the distance, I heard a familiar roar erupt from the northern wood. I feel a shiver down my spine, and I mutter, “all that was lost will be returned.”

“What are you talking about Skath?” asks Gareth, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I shook my head, as now I know that there wasn’t just one motive. I look at Gareth and say, “You’ll need to go with Uzuri the rest of the way. If I don’t go right now, the village will be massacred by my father’s blade.”

“What’s happening Skath?” asks Uzuri, her concerned eyes darting from her brother to me.

“My future family is safe, and now I must save and protect the rest of my family,” I say embracing her and then I turn my attention to Gareth, “be careful, there may still be guards out there. I’ll do all I can to save the village from my father’s wrath, but I’ve never faced him when he was truly at his strongest.”

Gareth nods at me and grasps my arm where Uzuri’s band is tied, “brother please be careful.”

Cran floats into my hand, and I leap into the air. Gehenna had somehow outplayed me and my allies. He captured my mother and is now luring my father to the village. However, I’ll do what I can to subdue the berserker, and then he’ll have the wrath of two celandil to contend with.